LE with one E
Formerly known as Le Michelle Nguyen.
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I'm not the mother of dragons but I am a designer of spaces.
I am a designer inspired by collaborative and multidisciplinary projects to discover the full potential of the built environment.
Human-centered design is my preferred mode of working. Photography is my jam. Together these tools help me explore ideas and questions about personal, private and public spaces. I'm especially curious about the intangibles. How do we define space? How do we use it? Why do we need them?
I keep my thoughts organize with sketches, paper and wood models plus diving into research (1:1 interviews, shadowing, to name a few). I'm also a storyteller, doing my best to capture in writing and photos peoples unique built spaces. And sometimes, I design the heck out of them. Check out my project work here.
Shhhhhh...currently I'm co-designing Autonomous Vehicles with IDEO. That's all I can say for now!
Some selected accolades
Detroit Future City | April 2016
Under the supervision of Professor Carmela Cucuzzella’s Project Detroit: A living laboratory for a city of the future, my speculative design project, Ascent/Descent: Elevating the River Walk was recognized by Detroit Future City's Director of Planning, Dan Kinkead, and other distinguished guest panel members as an “elegant proposal” to help stimulate underutilized public space on the Detroit’s waterfront.
My interior and editorial images have been added and saved more than 25,000 times by the Houzz community, and counting!
Best in Houzz Award | January 2016
My portfolio of interior photography was voted among the most popular with the Houzz community - home to a diverse community of more than 40 million homeowners and professionals passionate about remodeling and design.
Airbnb Sao Paulo Offices | October 2015
The interior design of my 900 sq2 loft in Montreal was selected by the Airbnb Environments team as inspiration for a conference room design in their new Sao Paulo offices. Airbnb incorporated my designs to help connect their employees in the space to the real world experiences of traveling on Airbnb.
